GAZA WARLabeling Hamas as a Terrorist Organization

Published 4 December 2023

Since October 7, 2023, top news sources have published thousands of reports, articles, and stories covering the Israel and Hamas conflict. These sources vary in the terminology they use to describe Hamas, which affects how audiences view the conflict. Different news organizations use different terms to describe Hamas, and the use of these terms and descriptors can be misleading and inaccurate.

Since October 7, 2023, top news sources have published thousands of reports, articles, and stories covering the Israel and Hamas conflict. These sources vary in the terminology they use to describe Hamas, which affects how audiences view the conflict.

Hamas is an extremist organization that calls for the eradication of the State of Israel. The United States, Australia, Canada, the European Union, Japan and the UK have all designated Hamas as a terrorist organization.1

Although Hamas is a known terrorist organization and has been designated a “Foreign Terrorist Organization” by the United States since 1997, many news outlets describe members as “fighters,” or, more often, as “militants,” according to a preliminary qualitative analysis. Neglecting to describe Hamas accurately constitutes an omission of key information that distorts readers’ evaluations of the conflict between it and Israel.

To understand how news outlets are describing Hamas, ADL’s Media & Entertainment Institute systematically reviewed articles from October 7 – November 7 from the Associated Press (AP), Reuters, and eight of the largest news media sources in the United States with independent Middle East reporting.2 These eight sources include ABC News, CBS News, CNN, Fox News, NBC News, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post.

We examine how various news organizations describe Hamas and discuss how the use of these descriptors can be misleading and inaccurate.

The Data
By Label

Common Labels Used to Describe Hamas

News Outlets

Militants

AP, Reuters, NYT, Washington Post, CBS, ABC, CNN, Fox, NBC, WSJ

Fighters

AP, Washington Post, ABC, NBC, WSJ

Gunmen

AP, Reuters, NYT, ABC, CNN

Islamist… (e.g., Islamist organization, movement)

Reuters, NYT, CNN

Palestinian… (e.g., Palestinian group, militants, gunmen)

Reuters, NYT, Washington Post, CNN, WSJ

Assailants

NYT

Iran-backed… (e.g., Iran-backed group, terrorists)

CNN*, Fox

Terrorists

ABC, CNN*, Fox

*Label appears in some opinion pieces.

By News Outlet

News Outlet

Primary Labels Used to Describe Hamas

AP
  • Militants
  • Fighters
  • Gunmen

Reuters
  • Islamist Group
  • Palestinian (Militant) Group
  • Islamist Movement that Governs Gaza
  • Gunmen
  • Armed (Palestinian) Group

NYT
  • Militants
  • Assailants
  • (Palestinian) Gunmen

Washington Post
  • (Palestinian) Militants
  • Fighters
  • Political Party

CBS
  • Militant Group
  • Terrorists/Terrorist Group

ABC
  • Militants
  • Fighters 
  • Gunmen
  • Terrorists/Terrorist Group

CNN
  • Palestinian Militant Group
  • Gunmen
  • Islamist Militant Group
  • Islamist Organization with Military Wing
  • Iran-Backed Group*
  • Terrorist Organization*

Fox
  • Militants
  • (Iranian-backed) Terrorists

NBC
  • Militant Group
  • Fighters

WSJ
  • (Palestinian) Militants
  • (Palestinian) Forces
  • Fighters

Note: Parentheses indicate use of combined term (e.g., “(Palestinian) Gunmen” indicates use of the term ‘gunmen’ with and without the adjective ‘Palestinian’). 
*Label appears in some opinion pieces.